South Koreans Elect First Woman President

By

Evan Ramstad And

Kyong-Ae Choi

Updated Dec. 19, 2012 1:58 p.m. ET

SEOUL—South Koreans elected conservative lawmaker Park Geun-hye, who has been familiar to them since she was the young daughter of the general who ruled the country in the 1960s and 1970s, to be their next president and first woman leader.

Ms. Park defeated Moon Jae-in, a lawmaker and top aide to the country's last liberal president, after a...